The Kentucky Wildcats fell to the Tennessee Volunteers by a score of 78-65 in the Sweet 16 on Friday night.

The Vols were ready to right the ship after losing twice in the regular season to the Cats. Tennessee was clearly ready to roll, and Kentucky came out incredibly sluggish. Rick Barnes’ squad absolutely imposed its will, leading by as many as 19, and taking a 43-28 lead into the half.

After the break, Kentucky played much better, but the game was just too far out of reach. Every time the Cats scored, Tennessee answered. They had no chance in this game.

On the bright side, Mark Pope got a big commitment to start the day from Tulane transfer Kam Williams. That’s a good start for next season.

Here’s what you should know.

All systems failure

Kentucky didn’t come to play. It’s as simple as that. There was a completely different energy in both of the first two games versus the Vols.

Kentucky couldn’t score. It couldn’t defend. It couldn’t rebound. I really don’t know what was the worst facet of this game. It was all ugly.

While Kentucky dominated the season series, Tennessee won when it mattered. At the end of the day, this one means a lot more than the first two combined.

Abused on the boards

The Vols dominated the Cats on the glass from the jump. It was an incredibly poor effort for Kentucky.

As mentioned above, there was no energy, and that was evident on the boards as Tennessee abused Kentucky. Every. Single. Time…Tennessee missed a shot, it felt like they got the offensive rebound. Once the lead got around the 15-point mark, Kentucky never had a chance.

Part of it was effort, and part of it was personnel. Even though they weren’t a great rebounding team this season, the disparity here felt a lot like Tennessee just wanted it more.

It was a brutal showing to end Mark Pope’s inaugural season.

Promising Season Ends

While this was a disappointing night, it doesn’t take away the fact that this was a very special season as a whole, given what the program had endured in recent years.

Between tying the all-time top-15 wins record and making the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019, this was as successful as one could have realistically hoped for when John Calipari left around this time last year.

The future remains bright. Go Cats!